January 12, 2018

TCS partners with Transamerica to digitally transform its life and annuities business

NEW YORK | MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Transamerica, a leading provider of life insurance, retirement and investment solutions, to enable the transformation of administration of its U.S. insurance and annuity business lines. The partnership enables Transamerica to rapidly enhance its digital capabilities, simplify the service of more than 10 million policies into a single integrated modern platform, and drive greater sustainable growth opportunities through superior customer experiences. The multi-year agreement is worth more than $2 billion in revenues, the largest contract signed by TCS to date.

Mark Mullin, president and chief executive officer, Transamerica, said, “Transamerica continues to put our customers at the forefront of everything we do. I’m very excited to embark on this partnership with TCS, whose transformation and technology innovation capabilities will supplement our focus on improving our customers’ experience in a digitally enabled way. This supports meaningful growth in all business lines, including insurance and annuities, and advances our competitive positioning. TCS was carefully selected because of their significant, on-going investments in technology and their expertise in the insurance and annuity industry.

“TCS’ core competencies complement ours. TCS will provide valuable administration and quality customer service, and Transamerica will continue to engage with our customers, clients and advisors in the most meaningful ways to them by utilising our digital engagement platforms and developing new solutions that help people save, protect, invest and retire,” he added.

The partnership will enable the transformation of the administration of Transamerica’s life insurance, annuity, supplemental health insurance, and workplace voluntary benefits products. It will also support the company’s overall transition to a simplified, cloud-enabled platform for agile new product development, enhanced services, acquisitions, and strategic innovation investments. This agreement is expected to lead to annual run-rate savings of approximately $70 million initially – growing to $100 million over time – for Transamerica. The majority is expected to benefit underlying earnings.

Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and managing director, Tata Consultancy Services, said, “TCS is helping to guide many of today’s leading companies through their business 4.0 journeys, in building their digital spines, becoming more agile, creating superior customer experiences, and driving exponential growth. We have invested heavily in our insurance digital platform, TCS BaNCS, and our extensive U.S. capabilities, and are proud to partner with Transamerica in its on-going transformation and welcome the transitioning employees to promising new careers at TCS.”

TCS BaNCS has become a highly respected and successful digital platform in the European market for more than a decade, with more than 17 million policies under administration. It is a complete, open architecture solution with an integrated business rules engine, encompassing policy administration, data management, integrated imaging, and workflow administration. TCS has adapted the platform for the U.S. market to meet its operational and regulatory needs, both for today and in the future.

“TCS continuously invests in the latest technologies, local talent and U.S. facilities to help leading U.S. companies adapt to rapidly evolving customer demands. This agreement with Transamerica marks TCS’ entry into a highly specialized US Insurance Third Party Administration marketplace and will establish TCS BaNCS as a formidable digital platform for the US Insurance industry,” said Suresh Muthuswami, President and Global Head, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Platforms, at TCS.

“TCS has partnered with its global insurance clients in their transformation journeys and played an integral role in their growth. We have enabled improved speed-to-market, customer engagement and cognitive operations through our innovative technology services, the TCS BaNCS agile and digital platform, and our unmatched industry expertise. We look forward to a great relationship with Transamerica,” he added.

TCS will make job offers to all of the applicable Transamerica employees currently supporting the life insurance, annuity, supplemental health insurance, and workplace voluntary benefits business lines, ensuring a consistently excellent experience for Transamerica customers and protecting approximately 2,200 American jobs. Employees transitioning to TCS will be given the opportunity to remain in the same U.S. cities where they are currently based. TCS will also expand its existing relationship with Transamerica under this transaction, and locate in Transamerica’s current offices in various U.S. cities.

TCS plans to make a significant investment in the region, most notably by establishing its new North American insurance hub for business operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Beyond offering roles to 2,200 Transamerica employees across U.S cities, TCS plans to hire locally in Iowa, set up relationships with educational institutions, and help employees with professional development to gain digital skills and fluency. As one of America's 50 most community minded organizations, TCS will also work with state and local leaders, and community organizations to bring its flagship education programs, such as goIT and Ignite My Future In School to students, educators, schools, and communities across Iowa.